IAS Score: What were your strategies for the lengthy syllabus of General Studies for both Prelims and Mains?

Anupam: I studied basic books for both Prelims and Mains along with a monthly current affairs magazines and relied on internet for latest updates.

IAS Score: Did you integrate your Prelims or Mains preparation or was it separate in the changing scenario?

Anupam: I integrated prelims and mains preparation as syllabus overlaps to some extent and it saves time for revision.

GS Preparation for Prelims (Summary)

Study material / Guidance

Basic Books

Standard syllabus books for each subject like history of Bipin Chandra , polity of Lakshmikant etc and coaching classes notes

Current Affairs

Any monthly current affairs magazines and internet

Any other

Sir S. Nagpal( senior Bureaucrat) helped me a lot during this journey. I am really thankful for his constant support , motivation and guidance.

GS Mains Preparation (Summary)

Paper

Study Material/Guidance

Current Issues Source

Answer Writing Practice

GS Paper 1

Basic books and coaching study material

Monthly magazines and internet

GS SCORE test series

GS Paper 2

Do

Do

Do

GS Paper 3

Do

Do

Do

GS Paper 4

Do

Do

Do

Optional Subject Preparation (Summary)

Study material / Guidance

Upendra’s class notes for sociology

Basic Books

Haralambos ,ram ahuja and Anthony giddens

Current Affairs

Internet

Answer Writing

none

Any other

IAS Score: How did your prepare for essay.

Anupam: I practiced only 2 or 3 essays before final essay. I would suggest not to follow this strategy. Do practices as many essays as you can .

IAS Score: Did you adopt any specific strategy for GS Paper 4?

Anupam: Its entirely different subject and specially one should focus on learning from day to day ethical issues for case studies. I practiced by writing 20 or 30 case studies before exam.

IAS Score: What were the sources of information for general reading? How did you come to know that which sources of reading materials are standard?

Anupam: I adopted diverse reading on different topics from internet, magazines and books and made summary of them for future revision. After going through the whole syllabus for 2 or 3 times one can easily understand the requirement of this exam and can compile different topics of syllabus at one place .

IAS Score: What is your advice on notes-making for other aspirants?

Anupam: Notes making are very crucial for quick revision of entire syllabus and also helps in remembering important data and facts .

IAS Score: How did you manage your time during the preparation?

Anupam: I had enough time for preparation as I was not working/job during preparation. So there was ample time available for reading and revision.

IAS Score: What was your style (paragraph or point format) Of writing in the exam? How was it distinct from the general writing style? How did you develop this writing style?

Anupam: It was mix of both paragraph and point format. However, when I was running behind the time I preferred only points format. I followed general writing style – introduction-body-conclusion . I joined GS SCORE for answer writing and it really helped me in improving my writing skills.

IAS Score: So much focus is being given to Test Series, both for Prelims and Mains, in your opinion how useful are they, in the course of a preparation process? Which Test Series did you join and how useful did you find it to be?

Anupam: Test series benefits a lot. It helps in revising entire syllabus within specific time period. It also enhances speed of answer writing and one learns from mistakes by writing tests only. I joined GS SCORE for general studies and found it very helpful.

IAS Score: Civil Services Exam process is quite strenuous. It requires long hours of constant study. How did you maintain your tempo and what did you do to break the monotony of preparation?

IAS Score: Given the recent boom in online initiatives to support an aspirant, which were the platforms that you find useful enough during your course of preparation. Please list the sites.

Anupam: Internet really boosts the performance of a candidate. I would suggest candidates to go through Wikipedia for any topic , govt websites for various polices and schemes, PIB, websites of coaching institutes like GS SCORE , gktoday , mrunal’s blog etc

IAS Score: Your word for future aspirants. What is your advice to the candidates who is still in the process of preparing for this examination?

Anupam: I would like to quote swami Vivekananda “ Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached .” Never loose hope and work hard.